Be Prepared a Tech for Good project

Be Prepared

Inspiration came from seeing the people in need during Hurricane Maria in 2017. Did we all have equal access to information and survivor recovery information?

It creates a culture of preparedness and it is most useful to handicap, elderly, young, or physically challenged population to access information by just asking Alexa. Now people can get the help needed to file claims for the disaster , find shelter, and get assistance.

I built it using the Alexa Skills Kit by Amazon. I connected the skill to a public informational RSS feed that Alexa can read. The RSS feed comes from official opensource data feeds from FEMA.

Challenges I ran into was making sure the feeds are working and being updated on a timely basis by FEMA. Making sure it sounded correct when the text was read by contacting the FEMA IT department by email

I am so proud to accomplish this on my own with no formal training. I just followed the information given by the Alexa Skills Kit. I hope to be creating official emergency management skills for municipalities and other Federal agencies.

I learned that it is necessary to create a tech good for survivors that are seeking information about shelters, recovery, and always preparedness for life threatening storms.

What's next for Be Prepared a Tech for Good project is that I will be adding more region specific news feeds such as feeds for just California and the fire situation. Where to get help and shelter. Where to file the claim. What are the deadlines and recovery center location information.